After winning the 1960 presidential election John F. Kennedy started his presidency by asking the American people to take initiative in improving education, health care and their state of living. To help drive these new movements forward he implemented the New Frontier.
One of JFK's biggest challenges was keeping foreign relations good during the Cold War. JFK felt that Eisenhower relied to much on nuclear weapons which should be a last resort only. His counter to the expansion in communism he offered aid to any country that wanted it to help resist communism in their country.
Kennedy also wanted to improve relations in Latin American countries. Conditions were not very good in Latin American countries so over a ten year period the U.S. pledged $20 billion to help Latin American countries build better schools, housing, health care and fairer land distribution. In some countries like Chile and Colombia the money had a huge impact on living quality, but for many countries there was low to no change due to corrupt governments keeping the money to secure their own power and spend it on themselves. This parallels what is happening in African countries today. The U.S. government and citizens donate billions of dollars to countries like Kenya and Somalia every year but almost none of the money gets past the government. In fact since America started sending relief to these countries living and work conditions have gotten worse due to their governments greed.
One of JFK's biggest challenges was keeping foreign relations good during the Cold War. JFK felt that Eisenhower relied to much on nuclear weapons which should be a last resort only. His counter to the expansion in communism he offered aid to any country that wanted it to help resist communism in their country.
Kennedy also wanted to improve relations in Latin American countries. Conditions were not very good in Latin American countries so over a ten year period the U.S. pledged $20 billion to help Latin American countries build better schools, housing, health care and fairer land distribution. In some countries like Chile and Colombia the money had a huge impact on living quality, but for many countries there was low to no change due to corrupt governments keeping the money to secure their own power and spend it on themselves. This parallels what is happening in African countries today. The U.S. government and citizens donate billions of dollars to countries like Kenya and Somalia every year but almost none of the money gets past the government. In fact since America started sending relief to these countries living and work conditions have gotten worse due to their governments greed.